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Monday, December 3, 2018

2019 Reading Challenge

The wait is over, readers! The 2019 Reading Challenge is finally here! I think that Tress (find her blog here) and I were both really shocked at how much the 2018 challenge had taken off. I know that I definitely was! Since 2018 is wrapping up (where in the hell did this year go???), we wanted to go ahead and get the 2019 challenge ready to go! If you want to see what we did for the 2018 challenge, you can find that here.) I'll post my final update for the 2018 challenge sometime near New Years. I'm hoping to make a push for a couple more books on it still.
Here's a bit about this year's challenge. Both Tress and I really liked the format we came up with, and I don't think either of us really wanted to step away from that. She's ultra-organized, and I live in spreadsheets, so it just works for us. We really tried to make each level harder than the next, as much as we could. For me, however, I'm sporadic in reading and will get caught in a series on Kindle Unlimited and then find myself without places to put the books I read. This has already happened on the 2018 challenge, and I end up having read a lot of books that just don't fit. It's a bit of a motivation killer, to be honest.

Before even sitting down to develop the 2019 challenge, I really wanted to include a way to combat my reading tendencies. There were some topics in 2018 that I was dreading tackling, and while there are some in the 2019 challenge, (here's looking at you a previously abandoned book and political figure spots) I think there's a ton I'm really looking forward to diving into. I might actually plan ahead to do better this year. If you know me, feel free to laugh at that last statement.

The idea of how to go about this challenge is the same as last year's. There are five levels, each hopefully getting more difficult. There are 12 books in each level for a grand total of 60 books. You can complete it in order if you like or skip around. Tress tries to read in order and I definitely just jump around. Some of the categories are the same as last year, some are different. There was a handful of topics that we really liked and are broad enough that we felt good about keeping them. New to the 2019 challenge is that the last spot in each level is a free space. Feel free to use these as you feel fit. This is hopefully going to tame my binge reading that's not relevant to the challenge, and I'm guessing Tress will use it for rereads, but I'll let her talk about what she plans to do with them.

I've included a PDF that you can download and use if you like. I'm just going to make a list on the blog, so the pdf is going to look different. I'm way too lazy to do an HTML table this year. So, numbered list it is! After the list, I'll talk a bit more about which ones I'm excited about, and some of my plans for what I think could work for some of the topics.

2019 Reading Challenge

Level 1: Book of the Month Club

1.) A book with a red cover 2.) Read a YA fiction 3.) A book under 300 pages 4.) A book you got for free 5.) Reread the first book of a series you love 6.) Read a book that takes place during the summer7.) A book whose title starts with the letter M8.) Read a romance novel9.) A book that has been turned into a TV Show or Movie10.) A book with a title done in alliteration (example: Pride and Prejudice)11.) A New York Time's Best Seller (Past or Present)12.) Free Space- Pick any book!

Level 2: Casual Reader Club

13.) A book by John Grisham 14.) Read a Fantasy novel

15.) Read a book with a color in the title16.) Reread a book you have recommended to someone else17.) Read a detective novel18.) A book with a number in the title19.) Read a book about dragons20.) Read a book published by Penguin Random House21.) Read a book found on Project Gutenberg22.) A book about an artist (fictional or real)23.) A book that was published in 199924.) Free Space- Pick any book!

Level 3: Dedicated Reader Club

25.) Read book 1 in a trilogy26.) Read book 2 in the same trilogy27.) Read book 3 in the same trilogy28.) Read a book recommended by a friend on Social Media29.) A book about a Librarian30.) A book about breaking a code or a treasure hunt31.) Read a book by Brandon Sanderson32.) Read a book that takes place in a large city33.) A book suggested by https://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/34.) A book for under $3.0035.) A book with exactly three words in the title36.) Free Space- Pick any book!

Level 4: Speed-Reader Club

37.) A book over 500 pages38.) A book about time travel39.) A book with a form of weather in the title40.) Read a book published in 196941.) A book authored by a Catherine/Katherine or variant42.) A book by Anne Rice43.) A book from Time's All-time top 100 book list (find it here)44.) Read a coming of age novel45.) A book involving mythology46.) Read a self-published book47.) A book with the word dream in the title48.) Free Space- Pick any book!

Level 5: Overachiever Club

49.) Read a book on a banned book list50.) The most recent book in a series you haven't finished51.) A book that you judged by its cover (either positively or negatively)52.) A book that takes place in your home state53.) A book that takes place before 196554.) Read a biography55.) Read a book you've previously abandoned56.) A book about a real or fictional politician57.) A book set in Asia58.) A book with a tree or forest on the cover59.) A book with the letter Z in the title 60.) Free Space- Pick any book!

Thoughts going forward:

I feel like we did an awesome job keeping level 1 simple. I don't really have any titles that stand out to me that I for sure want to include on this tier. There's a lot of options. I think if you do this one order level 1 is a good one to get motivated for the rest of the challenge.

I think the topic I'm most excited about on level 2 is "Reread a book you have recommended to someone else." That one was Tress's idea, and it might actually be my favorite on the entire list. I have a few books in mind for this one but don't have it narrowed down to one yet. I will say I want to pick one that I've already reviewed on the blog so I can compare and contrast my thoughts.

Number 25, 26, and 27 were the ones I was most proud of coming up with. This was another way to combat both Tress and I's tendencies to get sucked into series with nowhere to put them. There are so many options for these spots, but the idea is that you read one full trilogy for the spots, if it's not apparent. I foresee myself putting Nora Roberts books there because so much of her books are already trilogies. If anyone needs a suggestion for "A book about a Librarian" Charlaine Harris has an entire mystery series where the main character is a Librarian. It's her Aurora Teagarden series.

I'm pretty neutral about level four. There's not anything that I'm super excited about, but nothing that I'm cringing at reading either. I actually think this level will be reasonably easy, but we'll see how it actually plays out.

I think that level 5 is the one that has the ones I'm cringing about. I'm dreading the topics of a book that you've previously abandoned, a book about a politician, and a biography. But it's a challenge, so we had to include some that seem daunting. As of right now, I plan to get through level 1 and then figure it out from there, but knowing me I'll probably go about it like I do everything; like a puppy who gets easily distracted by everything.

I would absolutely love to hear what your thoughts on both this upcoming challenge! If you went through the 2018 challenge with us, let me know how you did (or are doing.)

Yay, it's back! I've had fun with the 2018 challenge, and I've skipped around. I still have six prompts left to go so I probably won't completely finish the 2018 one. For 2019, I'm aiming to complete at least four levels.

I've almost completed the first two levels of the 2018 challenge with about 1/2 of the third level and a few others in the higher levels as well. But I enjoy this list and the variety it encourages me to read!! Thanks for hosting it again!

I track all my lists through GoodReads and also Google Docs for anyone interested in following along:https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/16943804-suzy?shelf=2019-linz-5in1https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UCV-uXL9LRRQ_SRIJeNPLQYfxq2RUt5vPIR5fjonwjc/edit?usp=sharing

Awesome list of prompts, thanks! I'm hoping to get in 60+ books this year, but mostly it'll be nice not to read so many textbooks! I'm combining this with a couple other challenges - so we'll see how that works out!I'll be following along on at https://bookwrightandbaker.com/2019-reading-challenge/

I was checking out whatshouldireadnext.com. The suggestions I got seemed only remotely connected to the book I listed, so I decided to try Gone With The Wind. The sequel was listed first along with 3 other related books, but 5,6, and 8 baffled me. I cannot find even the remotest connection between Gone With The Wind and Forever Amber, The Thorn Birds, and Up The Down Staircase except the fact they are all fiction and the main character is female. Am I missing something here?

I thought of this challenge and had to laugh when I saw Reese Witherspoon's January book pick for her book club is The Library Book. It's already on my TBR list, but it has a red cover so it just seems made for task 1! Now the challenge is getting my hands on it....

This will be my first time doing this challenge and I am really looking forward to working my way through the list. Though right now my goal is only to get through level 3 we will see how far I actually get in the list.http://romanceloveranonymous.com/2019-reading-challenges/

Thank you for reading my book blog. Please feel free to leave a comment to further or start a discussion on the book reviews and other posts. If you have a book recommendation for me I'd love to hear it!